Removable Insert for Formation of a Recess in a Tubular by Expansion

ABSTRACT

A material that dissolves or disintegrates is secured to an inside surface of tubular goods before swaging or expansion takes place. The material remains in position as the swaging occurs and post expansion is removed leaving a recess of a desired shape to function for a variety of purposes depending on its shape and location. At the end of a tubular it can serve as a bell into which the next string is expanded for a monobore completion. In other locations in a tubular it can function as a landing collar for a variety of tools. It can also function as a seal bore as the added material is removed preferably with water. The preferred material is an alloy of aluminum, tin and zinc.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention is a method of producing a recess in atubular using expansion and more particularly where a fixed swageaccomplishes the expansion and creation of the recess by displacing aninsert that can later be removed, preferably by dissolving the insert.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Removing downhole barriers by dissolving them is a concept illustratedin U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,436; U.S. Pat. No. 7,661,481 and U.S. Pat. No.7,703,511. Materials that dissolve or disintegrate in water are knownsuch as aluminum alloys which are about 50% aluminum, 40% tin and 10%zinc are known and used for metal wire and sold by Praxair subsidiaryTAFA Incorporated. This material is known to dissolve or disintegrate inwater and is called 300/301—Dissolvable Metal Wire on the MaterialSafety Data Sheet provided by Praxair.

Producing a bell in a tubular was in the past accomplished with avariable swage that could form the bell at the bottom of a tubular beingexpanded and then be reconfigured to another size for further expansionof the balance of the tubular or for removal from the tubular.Adjustable swages are fairly complex devices so they always presentedsome risk of mechanical malfunction when switching dimension.

What is needed and provided by the present invention is a method to makea bell or recess in a tubular that can have a variety of purposes andaccomplishing the formation of such a bell or recess with a swage thatoperates at preferably a single dimension. The method involves the useof a material that dissolves or disintegrates with exposure to amaterial such as water and yet has the strength to remain in position asa swage passes by the material so that the presence of the material isused to enhance the enlargement of the tubular where the material isdisposed during the expansion. After the expansion the material issimply removed with an appropriate material such as water, for example,and there remains a zone of enlarged diameter which can be a bell at thebottom of a tubular or a recess if disposed at another location alongthe length of the tubular. Thereafter the presence of a bell can be usedto secure another tubular into the bell and retain the internaldimension of the tubular above into the newly expanded tubular. If thereis a recess produced in a given tubular the recess can be used as alocating groove for landing other tools at a predetermined location.

Other variations are envisioned such as protective sleeves such as forhighly polished seal bores, no-goes for other tools and ball seats amongother applications. The common theme to the various applications is theuse of a simple swage and the ease of removal of the material after theswage moves through it. In the preferred embodiment the aluminum alloymade by TAFA is preferred as it is simply removed in the presence ofwater. Coatings on the material can also be employed that are thenremoved by the swage or through other means before or during theexpansion. While a swage is recited to accomplish the expansion, variousother devices can be used to expand a tubular shape such as extendablerollers from a housing or spaced seals that have pressure appliedbetween them or other devices that can increase the dimension of one ormore tubulars. Those skilled in the art will better understand theinvention form a review of the description of the preferred embodimentand the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of theinvention is given by the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A material that dissolves or disintegrates is secured to an insidesurface of tubular goods before swaging or expansion takes place. Thematerial remains in position as the swaging occurs and post expansion isremoved leaving a recess of a desired shape to function for a variety ofpurposes depending on its shape and location. At the end of a tubular itcan serve as a bell into which the next string is expanded for amonobore completion. In other locations in a tubular it can function asa landing collar for a variety of tools. It can also function as a sealbore as the added material is removed preferably with water. Thepreferred material is an alloy of aluminum, tin and zinc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a run in position with the material located at the lower endof a tubular and the swage in position for expansion of the tubular;

FIG. 2 is the view of FIG. 1 showing how the placement of the materialhelps to create a bell at the tubular lower end as the swage passesthrough;

FIG. 3 is the view of FIG. 2 showing the material removed to expose thebell at the lower end of the tubular.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates a tubular 10 that optionally has the schematicallyillustrated swage 12 at the top 14 of the tubular 10. The expansion asillustrated in FIG. 1 will go from top to bottom but can just as wellproceed in the reverse direction from bottom 16 to the top 14. While theswage 12 is schematically illustrated as a fixed dimension cone, whichis preferred, other techniques for expanding the tubular arecontemplated including adjustable swage or swages, spaced opposed packercups with pressure admitted between the packer cups or hydraulicallyextendable rollers from a housing that is then rotated from the surfaceor with a motor on the tubular string that supports the housing.

Also shown in FIG. 1 is an insert material 18 that is located adjacentthe end 16 and is in the shape of a cylinder lining the inside wall 20of the tubular 10. The material is preferably a metal alloy that can bereadily removed without needing to by physically retrieved. In thepreferred form the material is dissolved or disintegrated after theswage 12 passes through it or the expansion of the tubular 10 iscompleted by some other technique. Also in the preferred embodiment thematerial 18 is removed by the presence or introduction of waterregardless of its temperature. A metallic alloy of aluminum combinedwith tin and zinc is preferred. The proportions can ideally be about 50%aluminum, 40% tin and 10% zinc. The alloy behaves as a metal and can besecured to the wall 20 by welding, brazing or adhesives to name a fewoptions.

A coating 22 can be applied to the exposed portions of the material 18so that it can be protected from the presence of water or any materialthat would initiate the dissolving or disintegration processprematurely. The act of expansion, such as with the swage 12, can alsostrip away some or all of the coating so that the dissolving ordisintegration process can take place. Alternatively, the coating 22 canbe removed after the expansion with a material introduced into thetubular 10 or by changing well conditions in the tubular 10 so that theprotective coating 22 is removed. Some options for non-mechanicalremoval of the coating can be the introduction of fluids that remove thecoating 22 but that do not act on the material 18. Adding heat isanother option.

While the material 18 is shown in a cylindrical shape whose lower end isadjacent the end 16 of the tubular 10, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the location of such a cylindrical shape can be shiftedup and away from the lower end 16 to another location such as 24 wherethe material 18 can also be secured to the wall 20 in the optionalvariations described above. If using a pressure technique for expansionsuch as with an inflatable or with spaced packer cups for example, thematerial 18 can be cylindrically shaped and sealed to the inside wall 20of the tubular 10 so that the applied pressure to a zone inside thetubular 10 that is longer than the sleeve of material 18 can create arecess at one or both ends of the material 18 as the presence of thematerial strengthens a portion of the tubular 10 so that it resistsexpansion. Thereafter, the material is removed and the original insidediameter under it is maintained, while a recess is formed on one or bothends of the former location for the material 18. One or more landinglocations for another tool can then be developed in conjunction with useof material 18 to latch another tool into the recess so created.

When located as shown in FIG. 1 the net result of the method is toproduce a bell 26 at the lower end 16 so that a running string such as28 can deliver another string 30 through the now expanded string 10 suchthat the upper end 32 of string 30 is aligned with the bell 26,whereupon expansion of the string 30 will secure it to the bell 26 sothat the inside diameter at 34 after string 30 is expanded will be atleast as large as the expanded diameter of string 10 at location 20 withthe string 30 expanded at its upper end 32 into supporting andultimately sealing contact with string 10. The supporting and sealingcan occur in stages to leave openings for fluid displacement if therewill be cementing of string 30 after it is expanded. When the cementingis concluded the expansion of string 30 within bell 26 can be concludedfor a sealing contact so that the net result is a monobore completion.

While the material 18 is shown as a contiguous cylinder shape in theFIGS. it can also be a series of segments that have a generally uniqueorientation and can be placed at more than a single location in a stringsuch as 10. In so doing a series of unique profiles can be created thatcan allow tools with matching latch assemblies to seek out the specificprofile that can be engaged for locking contact. For example thematerial can be arranged in generally rectangular shapes that have theirlong axis oriented in general alignment with the longitudinal axis ofthe string 10. At different locations the axial lengths can be differentor the circumferential spacing can be varied so that an introduced toolwith a specific latching mechanism is only able to land and lock into aspecific profile at a predetermined location.

As another option the material 18 can cover a polished surface that isprotected during the expansion and then is exposed after the expansionconcludes so that another tool with a seal can be engaged with thepolished surface. As yet another option the material 18 may be in analready formed bell so that its internal dimension is not smaller thanthe unexpanded internal diameter of the tubular 10 before expansionstarts. When the material 18 is then removed the bell inside surface isexposed. This can be useful for protection of the inside surface of abell such as 26 during cementing followed by exposing the inside bellsurface after cementing and optionally expansion. The material 18protects the inside surface of the bell 26 until the material 18 isdissolved or disintegrated or otherwise made to disappear without beingphysically removed in the state that it was applied to the surface. Asanother option the length of the string 10 for all or some of its jointscan be lined with the material 18 so that the presence of material 18enhances the expansion that is accomplished with a given dimension of afixed swage after the material is removed by dissolving ordisintegrating or other means that do not involve retrieval to thesurface in the form that it was when inserted into the bore. The insertmaterial can be a continuous tube that has no connections and can alsobe produced as a seamless tube that can span the string and theconnections that are in it for the expansion process.

The above description is illustrative of the preferred embodiment andmany modifications may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the invention whose scope is to be determined from theliteral and equivalent scope of the claims below.

1. A method of creating a profile in a tubular comprising: covering atleast a portion of an interior wall of the tubular with a material whileleaving a passage through the tubular open; performing a downholeoperation through said passage; reconstituting said material to releasesaid material from said wall; exposing said previously covered portionof said wall by said reconstituting.
 2. The method of claim 1,comprising: accomplishing said reconstituting by dissolving ordisintegrating said material.
 3. The method of claim 2, comprising:using water for said dissolving or disintegrating.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, comprising: expanding said tubular as said downhole operation.5. The method of claim 4, comprising: expanding said material throughsaid passage to enlarge at least a portion of said tubular to a greaterdimension than another portion of said tubular where said material isnot present during tubular expansion.
 6. The method of claim 5,comprising: creating a bell at a lower end of said tubular by initialplacement of said material.
 7. The method of claim 5, comprising:placing said bell at the lowermost tubular of a first tubular string;inserting a second tubular string in the now expanded first tubularstring; aligning an upper end of said second string with said bell;expanding said second string into a supporting relation to said bell. 8.The method of claim 7, comprising: creating a monobore with saidexpanded strings.
 9. The method of claim 7, comprising: allowing fluidto pass between said strings with said second string supported in saidbell; sealing said second string in a surrounding annular space; sealingsaid second string to said bell after sealing said surrounding annularspace.
 10. The method of claim 5, comprising: providing a string made ofconnected tubulars; expanding material through said passage therethroughat at least one location in said string away from ends of said string;locating a tool in at least one profile after removal of said material.11. The method of claim 10, comprising: creating a plurality of uniqueprofiles in said sting; supporting discrete tools at different profilesbased on a match of a latch device on a tool with one of said profiles.12. The method of claim 11, comprising: creating said unique profiles byvariation of shape, orientation or circumferential spacing of shapesthat constitute said profiles.
 13. The method of claim 5, comprising:covering said material in said passage; removing said covering with aswage that expands said passage.
 14. The method of claim 1, comprising:pumping a sealing material through said passage as said downholeoperation.
 15. The method of claim 1, comprising: covering a polishedbore on the wall of said tubular with said material.
 16. The method ofclaim 5, comprising: using an aluminum alloy as said material.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, comprising: using a metallic alloy comprisingaluminum, tin and zinc as said material.
 18. The method of claim 17,comprising: making said alloy about 50% aluminum, 40% tin and 10% zinc.19. The method of claim 5, comprising: using a fixed dimension swage runin either one of two opposed directions for said expanding.
 20. Themethod of claim 10, comprising: sealing the tool in said profile. 21.The method of claim 4, comprising: using pressure to perform saidexpanding; applying said pressure to a zone of the tubular longer thanthe portion covered by said material; creating a profile in the zone ofthe tubular not covered by said material; retaining at least an originaltubular inside dimension where said material was located before itsremoval.
 22. The method of claim 21, comprising: sealing the material tothe tubular to prevent pressurizing the tubular in an annular spacebetween said material and said tubular.
 23. The method of claim 5,comprising: using a plurality of swages of different dimensions or atleast one adjustable swage to perform said expanding.